Ground Watch

[honestbharani]

haven't really been following the politics of stadia

Its really kinda sad that anyone would think everything has to do with politics.

 

[honestbharani]

A combination of bad organisation and corruption (?) means that piss all people watched the first game of the World Cup at the ground, which obviously looks pretty bad if you want people to care about your tournament.

I suppose its a form of corruption, but during the IPL , for the games in Chennai only 10-15K tickets ever came on sale when the ground is supposed to hold at least 40K people. When the games happened, we realized most of it was sold to corporates and/or given as freebies by governments to social media influencers and other such "celebrities". I can only assume its happening across India now with the WC.

 

[honestbharani]

Yeah I don't know what the real attendance was but it might've been better to have it at a smaller venue?

Or have India play the first game of the WC. Either would have been better and more sensible choices but BCCI and even ICC dont really do sensible choices, do they?

 

[Athlai]

there are many reasons, some of the main ones being

Ahmedabad is not at the level of other big cities for interest in sports events as there is not a big cricket culture there

the tickets sales process were **** and a large amount of tickets were also not sold to the public plus the usual scalpers

live stadium experience in India is **** and very less steps have been taken to erase that, you cant even take many things inside the stadium because of security reasons and the 96 semi final riot. there is no e-ticket, you have to go to the stadium before the match or on the match day and show proof of purchase to get your ticket and then only you are allowed in

since they announced the match schedules very late many foreigners couldn’t plan properly to attend matches

the weather, it was 36-37 degrees yesterday with sunshine and large part of the population cant afford to take a holiday to attend matches with all of these above reasons when they live paycheck to paycheck




many of these could have been avoided if bcci and icc did their jobs better

Good post this.

Ultimately with it being Eng vs NZ, the heat, the weekday, 20-30k aint bad for a rematch in this city of the previous WC final.

BCCI have to cop it that playing in this pinnacle of ego of a sports stadium with no actual plan to even half fill it was a giant disgrace. That said I don't even think their corrupt useless shambles of a board will be capable of ruining the spectacle of Ind vs Pak.

Dire egomaniacal symbol that this stadium is. When its packed for that game, it'll be ****ing awesome.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Ind vs Pak for the opening game seems like a slam dunk to me but who knows there might be reasons they can't do this.

 

[Shady Slim]

Its really kinda sad that anyone would think everything has to do with politics.

I suppose its a form of corruption, but during the IPL , for the games in Chennai only 10-15K tickets ever came on sale when the ground is supposed to hold at least 40K people. When the games happened, we realized most of it was sold to corporates and/or given as freebies by governments to social media influencers and other such "celebrities". I can only assume its happening across India now with the WC.

 

[Athlai]

Ind vs Pak for the opening game seems like a slam dunk to me but who knows there might be reasons they can't do this.

Ind vs Eng would've been a cracker too. Host vs former champs.

That said, scheduling a rematch of the final is kind of cool. But seems like a better 2nd game of the world cup ifnthe host wasn't involved.

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Good post this.

Ultimately with it being Eng vs NZ, the heat, the weekday, 20-30k aint bad for a rematch in this city of the previous WC final.

BCCI have to cop it that playing in this pinnacle of ego of a sports stadium with no actual plan to even half fill it was a giant disgrace. That said I don't even think their corrupt useless shambles of a board will be capable of ruining the spectacle of Ind vs Pak.

Dire egomaniacal symbol that this stadium is. When its packed for that game, it'll be ****ing awesome.

Not even close. Naming a stadium after him is pretty tame by Modi or even other Indian politicians standards.

 

[Athlai]

Was thinking this

Mate we aren't having a dig but its so overtly political it hurts

 

[Shady Slim]

Good post this.

Ultimately with it being Eng vs NZ, the heat, the weekday, 20-30k aint bad for a rematch in this city of the previous WC final.

BCCI have to cop it that playing in this pinnacle of ego of a sports stadium with no actual plan to even half fill it was a giant disgrace. That said I don't even think their corrupt useless shambles of a board will be capable of ruining the spectacle of Ind vs Pak.

Dire egomaniacal symbol that this stadium is. When its packed for that game, it'll be ****ing awesome.

asking curiously rather than facetiously are you able to elaborate for the uninitiated?

i probably could google it but i trust you, a smart and engaged person, more than i trust what google says, and prefer to get my info from sources i can trust

 

[Adorable Asshole]

Was thinking this

Mate we aren't having a dig but its so overtly political it hurts

I'm actually having a dig at Modi. Naming a stadium after himself is not really that narcissistic by his standards. Even though that it was first named Sardar Patel stadium does make it interesting.

If you want to see the pinnacle of Modi's ego. You should check the suit he wore during Obama's visit to India on Modi first republic day as PM.

 

[Athlai]

asking curiously rather than facetiously are you able to elaborate for the uninitiated?

i probably could google it but i trust you, a smart and engaged person, more than i trust what google says, and prefer to get my info from sources i can trust

2 parter
The stadium is named after the current prime minister of India, who is a huge political figure in this state. This is the second largest stadium in the world, arguably the largest.

Its the MCG but BIGGER and better.

Its a statement.

Like it's not to say that Gujarat doesn't have a proud cricketing legacy and history of its own. But it transformed a 50k stadium into something no one was really asking for, and now despite having one of the best nations in the world for loving cricket, they can't even give the tickets away properly.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Ind vs Eng would've been a cracker too. Host vs former champs.

That said, scheduling a rematch of the final is kind of cool. But seems like a better 2nd game of the world cup ifnthe host wasn't involved.

I wonder if they would've made the rematch the first game if the last final was a blowout.

 

[Athlai]

I wonder if they would've made the rematch the first game if the last final was a blowout.

Would still be kind of cool imo. Obviously in my mind, having a follow up of the greatest ODI in history is an epic but WC finals in general have a narrative that you can make somewhat romantic.

 

[Shady Slim]

2 parter
The stadium is named after the current prime minister of India, who is a huge political figure in this state. This is the second largest stadium in the world, arguably the largest.

Its the MCG but BIGGER and better.

Its a statement.

Like it's not to say that Gujarat doesn't have a proud cricketing legacy and history of its own. But it transformed a 50k stadium into something no one was really asking for, and now despite having one of the best nations in the world for loving cricket, they can't even give the tickets away properly.

ah i didn't know the stadium was named after modi, obviously that's a bit concerning given the cult of personality style personal fame and following modi has and that sort of thing, would feel a touch weird if albo was to knock down rebuild the SCG, tripling it in size and naming it after himself, seems a bit ridiculous and tinpot then, but obviously an important rider is you can't necessarily just transfer the same or similar actions to another country without taking away potentially important context that makes it a bit more explicable or sheds light on the situation.

does seem a bit weird though.

 

[Shady Slim]

Would still be kind of cool imo. Obviously in my mind, having a follow up of the greatest ODI in history is an epic but WC finals in general have a narrative that you can make somewhat romantic.

the opener wasn't south africa vs australia though

 

[ataraxia]

Ind vs Pak for the opening game seems like a slam dunk to me but who knows there might be reasons they can't do this.

I think there's a reason Pak are starting out by playing the least important team. Might have actually been one of the schedule changes – with all the general BCCI unpreparedness, security may not be the best at first.

 

[Athlai]

Reddit reports were local politicians gave away 40k free tickets to "women" because that'd be a good look. With no actual rhyme or reason to who actually would want to go to a game. Some ladies even reported they had been told the game was Ind vs Pak.

Obviously that's reddit, so grain of salt and all that

 

[honestbharani]

the quotes

Yeah but its administrative incompetence and corruption, not politics.

 

[honestbharani]

Ind vs Pak for the opening game seems like a slam dunk to me but who knows there might be reasons they can't do this.

Think both sides want to avoid that as the first game as it can be extreme pressure. Cant really think of any other reason.